A former coal mine sounds like it should be a Bond villain’s lair, rather than the venue for international motorsport.
And the electric SUVs that were buzzing about Glenmuckloch over the weekend would be perfect for any henchmen tasked with bringing down 007.
But there was no sign of Blofeld – or any paying fans – near Kirkconnel on Saturday and Sunday for the third and fourth rounds of this year’s Extreme E series.
The off-road championship, now in its third year, aims to be eco-friendly, sustainable while keeping its environmental impact to a minimum.
It also tries to support environmental projects through a series of legacy programmes, with the Nith District Salmon Fishery Board the benefit of this ahead of the Hydro X Prix at Glenmuckloch.
Before the action began, drivers and team members planted trees and put up fences in a bid to improve salmon habitats on the River Nith, with sensors from technology partner Vodafone Business installed to monitor water quality.
NEOM McLaren’s American driver, Tanner Foust, who spent some of his childhood in Scotland, said: “I love doing the legacy projects. It means we’re able to future proof motorsport and show that it can be done in a responsible way.
“I went to elementary school not far from here, about three hours further north, and I never would have known that there was an issue with salmon and with the warming of the rivers in Scotland. That goes to show how important the work we’re doing to highlight these problems is.”
With Extreme E’s focus on tackling climate change, Glenmuckloch was the ideal venue for the series’ first ever Scottish round and only second ever trip to Britain.
Its days for providing fossil fuels at an end, Buccleuch’s Queensberry Estate has plans to turn the site into a pumped storage hydropower plant and a windfarm.
And the drops, jumps and cliff faces certainly made it an extreme challenge – as did Saturday’s dry conditions.
Fraser McConnell, who won Saturday’s race with X44 Vida Carbon Racing team-mate Cristina Gutiérrez after Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristofferson rolled, said: “Coming in to this weekend no one thought we would see dust due to the rain and the whole climate – but we did in the final.
“Johan was a victim of that unfortunately. I was very close to following him and ending up on my roof as well, because it’s impossible to see where you’re going.
“You kind of just have to follow the lights when someone is in front of you. You never want to be in the dust, it’s never a good thing!”
McConnell and Gutiérrez, driving for F1 star’s Lewis Hamilton team, had crossed the line second behind the Andretti Altawkilat pairing of Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings – the latter the only British driver in the field.
The Andretti pair came into the event after a difficult time in the Saudi Arabia season opener and were denied victory for a rules infringement during the mandatory driver changeover midway through the four-lap final.
Munnings, who spent the week staying at an animal sanctuary, said: “A small mistake in the pits led to this, we respect the steward’s decision of course, we can only look at our race in Saudi compared to now and of course we’re going to have smiles on our faces to get back on the podium and get some championship points.”
As well as boosting motorsport’s eco-credentials, Extreme E aims to promote gender equality, with each team’s driver line-up consisting of a man and a woman.
The Odyssey 21 SUVs they drive look futuristic and are spectacular to watch – even if the sound of revving engines has been replaced by tyres scrabbling for grip thanks to their electric power.
Hamilton’s fellow F1 champs Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button also have teams, with other famous motorsport names involved including McLaren, Andretti and Ganassi.
And with fog delaying the start of Saturday’s action, the latter team’s American pairing of RJ Anderson and Amanda Sorensen got into the Scottish spirit of the event by trying the bagpipes.
After finishing third on Sunday, Anderson said: “It’s way, way harder than I thought! I give those guys all the credit, I could barely make it make a sound.”
The Thornhill-based Buccleuch and Queensberry Caledonia Pipe Band showed how it was done on Sunday, with Twynholm racer David Coulthard and Dumfries sportscar legend Allan McNish popping up to present the Ganassi pair with their third-place trophies following the grand final.
Every effort was taken to ensure the Hydro X Prix’s carbon footprint was kept to a minimum.
All the cars and team kit were shipped to Scotland in the RMS St Helena, which generates 75 per cent less emissions than the flights that would be needed to carry it around the world, and the number of people allowed on site was limited.
That meant limited crews and no paying spectators, with fans watching the action online or TV instead.
They were treated to a thrilling finale on Saturday won by McConnell and Gutiérrez, and the latter said the weather had made every day “completely different”.
That continued on Sunday, the sun being replaced by the rain for Extreme E’s first ever wet final.
And it was Veloce Racing’s Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor who best mastered the new conditions to take their second win of the season.
Taylor said: “It was really different. With Extreme E, every time we go out the track is significantly different but usually in degradation and how rough it gets.
“Here it was gripping up so quickly and so much we had more grip than everybody expected, then some rain comes and it goes the opposite way.
“I think that was a massive challenge, trying to read the grip, and you want quite a different car for those conditions.”
The series aims to “race without trace” and it looks set to have made a positive impact on both Dumfries and Galloway’s environment and businesses, with CEO and founder Alejandro Agag saying “many million Euros” were spent putting on the Hydro X Prix.
Estate director of Buccleuch’s Queensberry Estate, Anna Fergusson, said: “Hosting Extreme E was a wonderful opportunity for Buccleuch and the local community. Their commitment to the environment flows through everything they do, and using the sport to highlight local and international nature-based projects enables engagement on so many levels. For me, personally, recognising gender equality sends an incredibly positive message.”
